'Embarrassing' details about Tony Blair’s handling of Iraq War ‘will not be deleted from Chilcot report'

“Embarrassing” details about how Tony Blair and other Labour grandees handled the Iraq War will not be deleted from the Chilcot report during vetting, a government minister has promised as he said the long-awaited findings could be published within weeks.

John Penrose, the minister in charge of the Government’s response to the report, said there was nothing in election rules stopping it being released before the EU referendum on June 23 and pledged to publish the report as soon as completed by Sir John Chilcot.

Politicians used a debate in the House of Commons to warn that the delay in publication may have already cost British soldiers’ lives because the lessons about intervention in the Middle East are yet to be known.

It has now been over six and a half years since the Chilcot Inquiry, which was not expected to last longer than two years, was set up under Gordon Brown.

Next week Sir John will hand a draft of the finished report to British spies who will spend the next fortnight ensuring it does not endanger national security. Inquiry officials will read through the report from early May and prepare it for publication in a process expected to take weeks.

There have been fears that chunks of the report could be redacted to hide the errors of political leaders in the run-up to the invasion, which took place in March 2003. But speaking during the debate, Mr Penrose insisted that would not be the case.

He said: “I’m sure everyone will agree that the report must not compromise national security or breach Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights by putting the safety of individuals at risk.

“It’s a limited process with a narrowly defined remit focussed solely on ensuring the Inquiry’s report does not put lives at risk.

“By making these extremely narrow and clear terms of reference public here today I want to reassure everybody both here in Parliament and anywhere else that it will not and cannot be used to redact or censor material which does not need to be secret or which might prove embarrassing to ministers or officials from the time covered by the Inquiry.”

He also raised the possibility the report could be published before the EU referendum on June 23.

Mr Penrose said: “I should also reassure the House that I have checked with senior officials at Cabinet Office and been reassured that there is nothing in the rules of purdah for the EU referendum that will provide a reason to delay the publication of Sir John’s report once he delivers it to government.

“So we will publish the report as soon as it is delivered to us in its final form by the inquiry team whenever that may be.”

David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, warned that the delay meant that the lessons from the Iraq War were still not known.

Watch | Jeremy Corbyn: Chilcot delay 'getting beyond ridiculous'

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He said: "A decision such as those that were made in Libya, Syria and Iraq are made without the knowledge or facts, mistakes are made, and sometimes people die as a result.

"It's not hyperbole to say delay to the Iraq Inquiry could cost lives because bad decisions could be made - I would go further, I'd say it probably did cost lives because bad decisions were made."